Skill development key to bridge gap between rich and poor: CM Vasudev

Speaking on Zee Media's #BBV C.M. Vasudev, non-executive chairman of HDFC Bank and Arvind Virmani, a member of the RBI's advisory panel on monetary policy slammed politicians for not focusing on implementation of schemes.

The gap between the rich and poor is getting bigger and skill development is the only solution to reduce it believes former finance secretary, C.M. Vasudev. Skill development can help the poor to participate in the growth process and in this way they can reap the benefits of the entire development.

“The irony is that almost 80-90 per cent of youth before jumping into the job market are unskilled. Without skills they cannot participate in the growth process,” said Vasudev on Zee Media’s Bharat Bhagya Vidhata.

In an exclusive conversation with Zee Media’s Amish Devgan in ‘Mudda Aapka’, C.M. Vasudev and Arvind Virmani suggested skill development as a common mantra for development. While Vasudev advocated skill and infrastructure development to put India’s growth back on track, Virmani suggested to keep sewage, sanitation, clean water, irrigation and road network on top of the agenda.

Virmani, who also represented India as Executive Director at the IMF in the post-crisis period, said the irony is that on every issue final call is being taken by the politician and not by the domain experts. “In our country, no one dares to oppose the viewpoint of the politician.”
Vasudev also slammed the freebie culture. He stressed that freebies are non-productive expenditure which will only lead to a higher fiscal deficit.

Both former finance secretary officials also criticized the government for not monitoring the output of various schemes. Vasudev averred that politicians are only interested in making such policies which can improve their electoral performance. However, there is a big disconnect between the political aspirations and our implementation capacity.

Endorsing the perspective of Vasudev, Virmani told BBV that rather than reviewing the scheme, politicians only focus to woo voters. “Whenever a new government comes into power, they announce new schemes but they are least bothered about similar schemes launched prior.”

Vasudev pitched on integration of fastest and slowest growing sector of the economy. He also suggested a private sector led model for India’s growth.

However, for Virmani sustainability is the bigger issue than growth. He said, “Issue is not to revive growth rate but to sustain it. Malaysia sustained its growth of about 6% for more than 20 years which is a real achievement. 10 per cent growth of Indian economy was artificial.”